


Can some magic bring us back together?

by MythicalLucy



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Camping, Family, Gen, Harry Potter - Freeform, Stress, argument
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-04-24 00:55:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4899313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MythicalLucy/pseuds/MythicalLucy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Link spends too much time with his boys...and Lily is the one who suffers from that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can some magic bring us back together?

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfiction that I didn't write in my native language.  
> So I really hope that you guys like it and I would appreciate any kind of feedback! =)
> 
> I wrote this fic, because my friend @SM0SHMONKER (on twitter) wanted to read something about Link and Lily.

„We're hooome!“ A loud voice exclaimed, after it's owner opened the front door of his house. A lovely „Welcome back~!“ reached his ears, while his two sons ran past him with excitement. He stayed behind and struggled to get the luggage through the door, without losing his balance or his glasses. The man who was carrying the camping gear inside the house was Link Neal, father of three children, lovely husband and at the moment very exhausted.  
After Link retrieved the last bag from the porch, he followed his sons, Lincoln and Lando, into the kitchen. They were already talking about their camping trip to her mother Christy, who tried to pour some hot coffee into a mug, while the kids stood close to her. “Boys, calm down a bit! I'll listen to every single detail of your weekend, but first I have to get your father some- oh, there you are!” Christy said with a wide smile on her face, when she noticed Link. He went past his boys and put a hand on her cheek, before he gave her a kiss on the lips. Her smile grew even bigger, when they parted and she continued: “Welcome home, darling~! I already made you some coffee.” “I love it, when you exactly know, what I need.” Link answered, before he took the mug out of her hand. She giggled and brushed lightly through his hair, before she turned her attention back to her sons. “Are you hungry, boys? I can make you something!”  
While the boys spoke at once to their mother, Link walked to the kitchen table to sit down and to relax a little. But as he was about to take a sip out of his mug, his daughter Lily came into the kitchen and squeaked in excitement, when she saw her dad. “Dad! You're back!” She ran across the room and flung her arms around his neck, right when he had put the mug back on the table. “Hi Princess! How was your 'Girls only' weekend with your Mum?” He asked her with a smile, while he gave her a little hug.  
“It was so much fun! We went shopping and we baked a cake and we went to the park and we-” But before Lily could continue, her brothers rushed to the table and sat down, while they were still talking loudly about the camping trip. Lily stepped back a bit, so that Lando could sit down next to Link, while Lincoln sat across the table. “And it was SO great to see the stars in the sky at night!” “Yeah and when we hiked the other day, we saw a GIANT bear, Mum!” “It wasn't a bear...” “Yes, it was!!!” Link removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes sleepily, while Christy put two plates with food in front of their boys. “Boys, you should eat first! And you can tell the rest of your weekend tomorrow, okay?” After Link had put his glasses back on, he suppressed a yawn and took a sip from his coffee, when he felt a tap on his shoulder.  
“Are you listening, Dad?” “Hm?” Link turned his head and saw Lily standing next to him again with a confused look on her face. “Oh, I'm sorry...you were still talking about your weekend, right? See Princess....Daddy is just a little-” “Lily, your Dad is very exhausted. I guess it would be the best, if we also save our stories for tomorrow, okay?” Christy asked with a smile to help Link get out of his situation. Lily nodded and looked at her brothers for a moment, before she left the kitchen to went back to her room. Link sighed loudly and brushed his fingers through his hair, while Christy came over to him. “She waited the whole evening for your return, because she wanted to tell you about the weekend...when we ate dinner, she ran to the window every time she heard a car passing by....!” “I know...but I'm so tired and exhausted. The traffic was horrible and I actually just want to go to bed right now...” Christy smiled at him and placed a light kiss on his cheek, before she said: “Then you should go get some sleep! I can unpack the bags and you can put the heavier gear away later. Don't forget that you need all of your energy, because you want to film a sketch tomorrow, right?” Link nodded slowly and drank the rest of his coffee. “Yeah, you're probably right. But I'll at least try to unpack my own stuff!” He answered with a tired smile. “Just get some rest~” Christy responded, before she took his mug with her to the sink. Link lifted himself up and stretched a little before he exited the kitchen. He took his bag with him when he walked into his bedroom, still feeling very exhausted. Even though he loved camping trips and spending some time with his kids, it was always very stressful for him when he came back home. He threw the bag on his side of the bed and sat down next to it, to untie his shoes. When he had put them away, he started to unpack the bag, while he was constantly yawning.  
After a while he had placed all the stuff from the bag aside and was already changing into his pajama pants. He had decided not to take a shower this night, but instead in the morning, because all he wanted to do now was going to sleep. So he crawled under the blanket and put his glasses on the bedside table, before he turned off the light. He could still hear the boys talking with their mother in the kitchen, but it didn't take long after he had closed his eyes, before Link was completely asleep. 

 

“God dammit! Can you PLEASE move a little faster!?” Link shouted angrily at the car in front of him, who was literally crawling over the freeway. His best friend, Rhett Mclaughling, looked over to him with a worried look on his face. “Is everything okay, Link?” “Yes! Why are you asking?” Link glanced irritated back at him, before he faced the traffic again. “You seem pretty angry. Is anything wrong? I mean, the traffic is actually pretty okay for a monday evening...so what is it?”  
Link sighed heavily and he eased his grip on the steering wheel a bit. “It's just....I hate it, when things are unfinished...” “But we did finish the sketch and all today! Sure, they need to edit it and we need to make sure, it's okay, but-” “I don't mean the sketch.” Link interrupted him and stopped the car at a red light. He glanced over to his best friend again and could see his concerned look on his face. “It's the sponsorship.” “Oh that...” Rhett murmured and watched how the light switched to green, while the car began to move again. “We need to get this sponsorship...! But I have no idea for a good segment. And that drives me crazy.” “I can totally understand that, buddy. But you need to relax a little. You didn't even tell me, how your weekend was.”  
Link smiled a little. Rhett sometimes didn't have the patience to listen to his stories, so he knew that he was asking about his weekend to distract him from his thoughts. So the rest of the car ride home Link told Rhett everything about the weekend with his boys. When he stopped the car in Rhett's driveway, he felt a little more relaxed than before. “I'll text you, if I have an idea for our sponsorship, okay? And when we sit down with everyone from the crew tomorrow, I'm sure they will also have some good ideas!” “Okay, Rhett.” “So don't worry too much!” Rhett said with a smile, before he exited the car and closed the door behind him. Link watched him walking to his front door for a moment, until he started the car again to drive home.

 

The noise of his keyboard clicking by the lightest touch of his fingers was the only thing Link heard. And it drove him crazy. With a sudden movement, he ripped his glasses from his face and placed them next to him on his desk. He put his head in his hands and leaned back a bit with a loud sigh. Why was it so hard to come up with a good idea? Where was all the inspiration, that he normally had?  
He had noticed before, that he was getting anxious pretty quickly when it came to work in the last couple of weeks. That was also the reason, why he went camping with his boys. Just to get his mind a little free. But it hadn't helped in the slightest. He was actually feeling more stressed out, since he came back.  
A knock on the door interrupted his train of thoughts and he pulled his hands away and straightened his hair a bit, before he replied: “Come in.” Christy opened the door to his small home office and gave him a little smile when she entered the room. “Aren't you hungry? You've been upstairs for almost two hours now...” Link shook his head and placed his glasses back on his face, before he glanced over to his laptop. “I'm still not finished. I'm completely out of ideas...!” While he stared at the digital pictures in front of him, he felt two hands on his shoulders, who massaged him a bit. “You need to relax a bit, darling. And you need to eat something...!” Link closed his eyes for a moment and tried to relax under her touch, but he opened his eyelids again with a sigh, when his worryingly thoughts came back. “I know...but it's just-!”  
Christy didn't let him finish his sentence, before she leaned over his shoulder and placed a light kiss on his cheek. “And you also should listen to Lily's story. She has waited the whole day, because you were too tired yesterday, do you remember?” Link slowly nodded and a little smile appeared on his face. “Yeah...you're probably right. I can finish this stuff tomorrow with the rest of the crew.” “Exactly.” He closed his laptop, after she withdrew her hands. When he stood up, he grabbed her on her hips and pulled her closer to gave her a kiss. He felt as if a little time with his family could be what he needed right now. After Christy broke the kiss with a smile on her lips, she grabbed his hand and led him out of the office.  
The kids sat in front of the TV and were watching some Pixar movie, when the two adults entered the room. Christy went to the coffee table to clean up some spilled apple juice, while Link strolled to the couch. “Hey, what are you watching?” He asked Lincoln, who glanced quickly at him. “It's Ratatouille, Dad! Didn't you see the rat, who was cooking the meal!?” Link placed himself between Lincoln and Lily and answered: “Oh...I guess, I missed that...”  
Lily turned her head to Link and said with a wide smile on her face: “Dad, you still didn't listen to my weekend story! Because Mum and I-” “Lily! Please be quiet! You can tell Dad about it on the TV break...” Lincoln interrupted, before his attention went back to the Television. Lily looked disappointed at her Dad, but Link only shrugged his shoulders with an excused expression on his face. “Maybe he's right...” He murmured, before giving his daughter a cheery side-hug.  
They all sat together and watched the movie, while Link was still lost in thoughts. Being together with his family had helped him relax, but he still needed a good idea.  
Suddenly a buzzing sound went off and scared Link for a moment, before he realized, that it was his phone. He got up quickly and left the room, so he wouldn't disturb the others. When he looked at his phone, he saw that Rhett was calling him, so he slid his thumb over the green button on the display and held the device next to his ear. “Link's speaking.” _“Hi Link, this is Rhett!”_ “Hi Rhett...” Link slowly walked into the kitchen and sat down on a chair, while he tried to guess, why Rhett was calling him. “What do you want?” _“You could at least try to sound a liiiittle more excited, when I'm calling you, buddy!”_ Link was too exhausted from the day to even argue with Rhett right now, so he remained silent. _“Listen, I've got an idea! You know, for our sponsorship and it's perfect!”_ As soon as Link heard the words, he straightened up and swallowed a little, before he asked: “Really? So what is it?” _“Ah, I can't tell you that on the phone, to be honest. But I thought, that I could come over? Because the boys actually wanted to have a sleepover at your house anyway and then I can bring them with me.”_ Link started to smile a little and stood up from his chair. “That sounds like a great plan. And we would have your kids here tomorrow anyway for your date night. I just want to make sure, that it's okay for Christy. Hang on a second!”  
Link went back to the living room to talk to his wife for a moment, without distracting the kids. When she agreed to Rhett's plan, Link got back on the phone. “Listen, Rhett? Christy said, that it would be okay.” _“Okay. Tell her, that Jessie is also coming. She said, that she doesn't want to stay here by herself.”_ Link chuckled and said: “Okay, bye!” before he hung up. When he went back to the living room, he could see, that he missed the break and the movie was going again. So he tried to be very quick and quiet, while he sat down between his kids. “Christy? He said that Jessie would come too!” He whispered to his wife, when the movie went quiet for a moment. She nodded with a smile and was about to say something, before Lincoln interrupted them with a “Shhh!” Link grinned back at her and faced the television again.  
Right when the movie began to took a turn, the door bell went off. Christy jumped to her feet and walked out of the room to answer the door, while Lincoln sighed loudly. “Who is that?” He asked annoyed, while Link couldn't suppress a smile. “Maybe some visitors?” Lincoln rolled his eyes and looked back to his Dad. “Who would visit us this late-?” But before he could finish is sentence, two boys appeared in the door frame of the living room. “Hi!!” Everyone on the couch turned around and Lincoln and Lando started to grin. “Locke! Shepard! What are you doing here!?” While the boys jumped from the couch and ran towards Rhett's kids, Link also got up. “You didn't want us to interrupt your movie, so we couldn't tell you, that Locke and Shepard wanted to come for a sleep over.” Link explained, while Lincoln and Lando squeaked with excitement, when they heard the plans. Rhett came into the room and Link greeted him with a short hug, before he also welcomed Jessie in the same way, who stood next to her husband.  
“Hi! Are you ready to get some work done?” Rhett asked with a smile and Link nodded before he answered: “Sure! Let's go into the office.” While the men climbed up the stairs, Link could hear their wives talking in the hallway, while the kids chattered in the living room. He was glad, that he had his office at the end of the house, so they could work without getting interrupted.

 

A few days later Link came home as late as the days before. Starting the new project with the sponsors had made his work days even longer. But even though he was exhausted when he entered his house, he was also happy. Everything seemed fine and he enjoyed his life at the moment.  
So he was kinda surprised, when Christy turned to him with a concerned look on her face one evening, when they were laying in bed. “Link, I think something is wrong with Lily.” “Hm?” Link lowered his phone and sat up a bit straighter, before he looked over to his wife. “What do you mean?” Christy leaned her back against the headboard and sighed a bit, before she continued: “She seems so...unhappy at the moment. I mean...we had so much fun on the weekend and she was laughing all the time. But I've noticed, that she's barely talking at the moment.” Link scratched his head and thought about Christy's words for a moment. “But why would she suddenly be so depressed?” Christy closed her eyes for a moment, before she looked at Link again. “Maybe she feels left out.” “Left out?” Christy nodded. “Yeah, think about it. You went away the whole weekend with the boys. And since you came back you have barely spend time with her, right? And then the sleep-over with Locke and Shepard...”  
Link took his glasses off of his face and rubbed his eyes. “So...what do you think we should do?” He asked quietly. “Maybe you could find something, that you can do with her. Kinda like the camping thing with the guys, you know?” “But I don't have time-” “Darling, it's your daughter! I'm sure, you'll have a few hours left for her, right?” Link swallowed hard, when he saw Christy's worried look. “Y-you're right. I'll think about something, okay?” She gave him a light kiss on the cheek and smiled a little. “Thank you.” As Christy was laying down again, Link put his glasses and his phone on the bedside table. He turned off the lights and laid next to her to get some sleep as well. But he felt that he was wide awake, when he looked into the darkness of the bedroom. How in the world should he come up with some father-daughter activity, while he was so busy at work?

 

He knocked on the bedroom door and waited patiently with his hands behind his back, until he heard a voice from inside: “Come in.” Link opened the door, while he kept one hand behind him and looked into the room. “Hi Princess! How are you?” Lily looked up and raised her eyebrows, when she saw Link standing in the door frame. “Hi Dad...I'm fine. What do you want?” Link came into the room and sat down next to her on her bed. She placed the book she had read on her bedside table and Link wasn't quick enough to read the title. “What are you reading?” “It's called 'The lost mage'. It's about magic and stuff.”  
Link smiled a little and said: “You really like everything with magic, since you've read Harry Potter, right?” Lily nodded. “Yeah.” “Well...that's perfect! Because I actually have something for you...” He pulled out a letter, that he had held behind his back the whole time and handed it to Lily. “It got your name on it.” Lily took the letter in her hands and her eyes grew big immediately. Her name and address was written in green ink and in calligraphy. He also noticed, that her hands were shaking so Link asked: “Don't you want to open it...?” Lily swallowed hard and turned the letter to open the red seal on the back slowly. Link watched her as she pulled out the slip of paper inside and began reading it. A smile appeared on her face and when she finished reading, she looked up to Link. “Dad...! Is that for real!?” Link nodded and grinned. “Yes. This is an official invitation to a Harry Potter camp! I know, that you don't like camping that much, but I thought we could-” He couldn't finish his sentence, because Lily jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly, while she said “Thank you!” multiple times. 

 

Link parked his car right next to a big wooden house. He turned off the engine and glanced over to his daughter on the passenger seat. Lily looked excited out of the window and undid her seat belt, as soon as the car stopped. “Come on, Dad! We don't want to be late!” She exclaimed, as she opened the door. “Don't worry, Lily. We have plenty of time!” Both of them took their bags out of the car and made their way to the entrance of the wooden house.  
A few hours later they stood in a row with several parents and their kids and listened to their counselor, who was explaining what activities they had planned for the next couple of days. “I hope, that everything I said was easy to understand and if you have any questions, just ask me! Please build up your tents now and meet me here again in half an hour, okay?” Everyone nodded and grabbed their bags to go to the camping site next to the house. Link had quite the trouble to build up his tent, so he and Lily were the last ones to arrive at the meeting area. “Ah, there are the rest. Okay, then let's start! So...what is the most important thing for any wizard, kids?” Almost all of the kids raised their hands and the counselor let some give their answer, but wasn't satisfied, until she heard Lily say: “A wand!” “That's right, girl! So that's the first thing we'll be doing! We're making us a wand! So, follow me!”  
Link walked behind the other parents and was checking his phone, just to see that he didn't even have cell service. So he put the device back in his pocket and sighed a bit. He was anxious about leaving his work behind for another weekend. But when he saw the smile on Lily's face and the sparkle in her eyes, he knew that he had made the right decision.  
All of the parents got two pieces of wood and a knife, so they could show off their carving skills. The kids took a test during that time to decide in which “house”or rather in which group they would come. Lily seemed to be quite happy, that she made it into Ravenclaw, which she told Link, when she came back to him. He listened to her description of the test, while he finished off her wand. “That sounds like a good test!...so what do you think of this, Lily?” Lily took a closer look on her wand and gave it back to Link after a few seconds. “Can you carve some ornaments, Dad?” He sighed with a smile and answered: “Of course...” So Link began to work on the wand again.  
But right before he could finish it, a loud noise from a bucket being knocked over, startled him. “Argh! Dangit!...” The knife and the piece of wood fell from Link's hand to the ground. He pressed his left hand on the cut on his right hand and closed his eyes. He could hear Lily next to him asking what was wrong, but he needed to concentrate to not faint. It wasn't the pain, that made him light headed, but the thought of his blood coming out of the wound. Link tried to breath calmly, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw the counselor standing in front of him with a worried look on her face. “Is everything okay, Sir?” Link swallowed and shook his head lightly, before he answered: “I...I can't...stand seeing blood...” “Okay, then please come with me. I'll bring you to our nurse. Don't worry. You're not the first one with this kind of problem.”  
Link was visibly shaking, when he entered the nurse's office inside the wooden house. The nurse was a young woman with a ponytail and a very cute smile on her face. “Please sit down, so I can look at your wound.” 

After a while Link came out of the nursery and found Lily and the others at another working station. They were decorating their wands and also sewing some robes for the kids to wear. He sat down next to Lily and gave her an apologizing smile. “Hey Princess...I'm sorry, that I had to leave you!” Lily shook her head and smiled back at Link. “It's okay, Dad. I know, that you get sick, when you hurt yourself. But look what I did!” She handed him a decorated wand, which he examined interested. “That looks awesome, Lily!” “It's yours, Dad! See, this is mine!” She handed him another wand and he saw that it was indeed the one, he had made for Lily. Lily's wand was also decorated and he complimented her on her work again.  
After every kid had a robe and a wand, they tried some 'alchemy', which was just mixing some freshly squeezed juices together. At the end of the day Link was happy to finally crawl into his sleeping bag, while Lily wanted to talk forever about all the things they had done on their first day. But it didn't take long until Link was asleep. 

 

The next day started with even more activities than before. They cast some 'spells', they learned something about some 'magical' plants and they were allowed to pet some actual owls. After the Quidditch game in the afternoon, which was played on broomsticks and kinda like soccer, the counselor made an announcement. “Listen everybody! As you all know the biggest task for Harry was to find the Horcruxes. So we should go on a treasure hunt as well. Maybe we can find something interesting!” Every kid was getting excited over the news and they all started to talk at once. The counselor came over to Link and the other parents and said: “We'll start the tour in an hour. You won't need any heavy luggage, but the kids should wear fitting clothes for a trip through the woods.” The counselor went back to the kids to prepare them for their treasure hunt, while the other parents started chattering. Link pulled out his phone again. But just like before, he didn't have any cell signal so he put it back right away. It was just a habit from him checking on his phone from time to time and it made him nervous to not being able to receive any messages. An hour later the 'Ravenclaw-group' was ready to go into the woods. The counselor had a few last words for everyone, so they stand around in a circle and listened to her. “Please make sure, that all of you stay at the safe path. You can easily track it, because we put some lanterns on the trees along the way. Although I hope, that we don't need to use them, because we want to be back at the camping-site before it gets dark. Well, that's all there is to say. So let's start with our treasure hunt!”  
The whole group started to follow the counselor and Link looked for Lily, just to find her talking to a girl a few feet in front of him. He smiled a little, because it seemed that Lily finally was in a good mood again. Even though he had barely spend some time alone with her, because of the activities. But he was sure, that Lily was still glad to be here, even though he didn't even ask her about it. Before he could think about his daughter too much, a woman from the group came up to him with a smile on her face. “Excuse me? I...I don't want to bother you or anything, but...you are Link Neal, right? Like...from Good Mythical Morning?” Link raised an eyebrow and nodded. “Yes. That's me.” “Oh, I knew it! I'm actually a Mythical Beast to be honest!” “Really? That's great!”  
The two of them continued to talk about the show during their walk through the forest. Sometimes the counselor would stop the group, so that the kids could search around for some clues or treasures. Link enjoyed talking to his fan, because it was nice to reminisce about some old episodes, while the kids ran around and had fun. He was so into the conversation, that he didn't even notice Lily's approach to get his attention. So when he heard her scream, he froze for a moment, before he turned around to look for his daughter. “Lily!?” He yelled her name until he saw the girl, who had talked to Lily before. She was standing next to someone, who was kneeling down in the dirt. And he immediately recognized that long, blonde hair.  
So he ran up to the two girls and swallowed hard, when he saw that something was wrong with Lily. “Lily? What happened?” He knelt down right next to her and she looked up to him, before she raised her hand. Her eyes were watery and she had a little bloody scratch on her hand. “There was a rabbit...and it seemed like it was hurt. So I got up to him to pet it, but....but then it scratched my hand and tried to bite me!” “Lily!! How many times have I told you, that you should NOT pet a wild animal!? What if that thing had diseases!?” He didn't want to sound that mad, but it wasn't the first time, that Lily had gone up to wild animals. And it drove him crazy, that she cared so much about animals, that she would forget to care about herself.  
He didn't even saw the changed expression on her face, when he stood up to look for the counselor. But before he could find that woman, he heard that Lily stood up behind him. “You....you are the worst!!” He slowly turned around to look at the two girls in utter disbelief. “Lily....what did you just say?” She had tears in her eyes and hold her hands tight to her chest to cover up the scratch.  
“Why did you even came with me on this trip!? You don't even care about me anymore!  
Just because I'm **NOT** a BOY like Lincoln and Lando!! **I HATE YOU**!!!  
The words hit Link just as hard as a punch in the face would. Did his daughter really said that to him?  
Did she said...that she hated him?  
That he didn't care about her?  
He was still frozen in the same position, with the same incredulous look on his face, when he realized that she was running into the woods. “L-LILY! WAIT!!!” He tried to follow her, but he stumbled over some roots and fell flat on his chest. A sudden pain rushed through his body and he noticed that he had lost his glasses. So he tried to get on all fours to search on the ground for them. His hands rustled through the dry leaves until he finally found the oddly shaped object. He picked up his glasses and put them on his face, before he stood up. When Link patted the dirt from his jeans, he looked around to find Lily. But he was shocked that he couldn't see her anywhere so he tried to call her a couple more times.  
A hand was placed on his shoulder, which brought him to spin around. The counselor looked at him with a worried look on her face. “Is everything okay?” Link shook his head and pointed in the direction, where Lily went. “M-my daughter...Lily...she...she just ran away!” “Oh....Okay, how about we all look for her? Her name's Lily?” When Link nodded, the counselor turned around to face the group again. She announced, that everyone should look for Lily in this area, without moving too far away from the path. Link heard the others calling the name of his child, while he also searched for her. After half an hour the counselor came back to Link again. “Listen...it's starting to get dark, so we need to continue the treasure hunt for the other kids or it will be too late. But one of my colleagues will bring you back to the camp. There we can give you some better equipment and some more people, who can help you search for your daughter, okay? And who knows, maybe she's already back at the camp!” Link swallowed and agreed to the offer. He watched the group moving forward, while another counselor came up to him to guide him back to the camp.

 

A while later he was waiting impatiently in front of the wooden house. The sun began to set already and Link couldn't think about anything else, than his daughter. He was relived to see the counselor finally coming back out of the house. She handed him a flashlight, a backpack and a walkie-talkie, before she explained: “We have called the rangers from this area and they said, that they will be here in about 20 or 30 minutes. So then we can continue the search and-” “Wait! Don't tell me, that you expect me to sit around for another half hour without doing anything! My DAUGHTER is out there! All by herself!! And it's getting dark!” “Sir, please calm down! We know, that it's a long time until they arrive, but we don't have enough people to start a big search on our own, so-” “Then I'll go alone!” “But you don't know anything about the area! What happens if you get lost too?”  
Link held up the walkie-talkie and said: “I can use this! That way, I won't get lost.” The counselor thought about it for a moment, but she knew that there was no way, that Link would stay at the camp. So she nodded in agreement and said: “Okay. Then go by yourself. As soon as we are hearing from the rangers, we're contacting you again, alright? And please try to stay as close to the save path as possible!” Link nodded and threw the small backpack with the first-aid kit inside over his shoulder, before he turned on the flashlight and jogged into the forest. He walked on the path for a while, still looking left and right to find any traces of Lily. The solar lamps were easy to spot, so he followed them back to the place, where he had lost Lily. Before he arrived there, he felt rain drops falling on his head. He ignored them for a while and tried to stay as close to the trees as possible. But it didn't take long until Link walked through the driving rain, which left his clothes drenched. After every two steps, he would shout Lilys name, until he heard a crackling noise. He looked down at his body and figured that it was the walkie-talkie, that made the sound. So he ripped it from his belt and held it to his mouth, while he pressed the button on the side. “Hello? Can you hear me? This is Charles Neal!” When he released the button and held the device against his ear, he could hear some more fluctuation noises and then a voice. _“....eal...?...'s Becky-....amp Hogw-....!..ngers.....ome....roads are close-....t-...long!..You-...back.....to th-.....!”_  
Link stopped and tried to understand what the counselor was saying. “I can't hear you very well! Please repeat!” He listened again, but before he heard her voice, he heard a rumbling sound in the sky. _“...angers....come...! The road-....closed!....storm....-”_ Link sighed heavily and leaned his body against a tree, before he spoke again. “I...I can't hear you! Are the rangers coming?” _“...no!...storm....strong...!Ca-....pass through-....oad.....closed-....!”_ Link felt his heart dropped into his gut. There was no one else coming because of the storm. He rammed his fist against the tree and put the walkie-talkie back onto the belt, before he moved forward.  
He wouldn't let his daughter be out here on her own, so he started to yell her name again. It took a while for him to search around the area, where he had lost her, but suddenly he found a trace. He thought it was a piece of garbage for a moment, before he noticed the bright colors, that didn't fit into the forest. He ran towards that thing and inhaled sharply, when he recognized Lily's wand on the ground. While the teardrops ran down on his face, he picked up the wand and looked around to find some more traces of Lily's path. It didn't take long until he saw some branches that looked a bit damaged. It looked like someone had forcefully ran through the bushes and Link assumed that it could have been Lily.  
So he put the wand in his backpack and walked down the path, that he thought had been created by Lily. The storm seemed to become even stronger than before and Link shivered because of the cold. From time to time he would hear rumbling from the sky, but he was too busy focusing on the slippery ground to even notice it. Without a warning a lightning rushed over the sky and scared Link so much, that he actually slipped. He tried to grab some twigs to get back his balance, but they broke under his weight, The next thing he felt was the ground suddenly disappearing under his feet and when he looked down, he saw some treetops a couple feet beneath him.  
Even though he knew, that everything was happening in a matter of seconds, it felt to him as the time stand still, when he slipped and fell down the cliff.  
His body came in contact with a couple of branches and stones, when he half slid, half fell down to the ground. The air was pressed out of his lungs, when he landed and his glasses jumped away from his face again. But all he experienced at this point was pain and a very blurry vision. The last thing he saw was another lightning, before his eyes closed and he lost his conscious.

 

When Link opened his eyes again he wasn't sure how much time had gone, but the storm was still raging. His vision was still unfocused, so he supported himself on his hands and his knees, to look around for his glasses. But when he moved his left leg, he felt a stinging pain in his foot, which made him cry out loud. He brought his shivering hand to his foot and touched it lightly, which send another wave of pain through his body. Link felt that his breathing had hitched, so he tried to calm himself as good as possible. His hands searched on the ground for his glasses and he found them a lot quicker this time. He rubbed the dirt off of them and put them back on his face, before he stood up with the help of a nearby tree. With a worried look on his face, he tried to slowly move forward, without putting to much weight on his injured foot. While he walked around a bit more, he kept yelling Lily's name over and over again. The thought of being injured and alone in this forest didn't scare him as much as the thought of his daughter being here as well. He started to tear up a bit, when he thought about his stupid behavior towards Lily. This was supposed to be a weekend for her! And yet he had barely give her any more attention than he would at home. And now she was gone.  
His thoughts were interrupted, when he noticed that he could hear the sound of rushing water. Link followed the sound and found himself on a river, that was looking pretty dangerous during these weather conditions. He decided to not stay to close to the river for his search, when something catches his eye. Something bright laid in the dirt next to the river bench and Link hobbled closer to examine it. He let out the breath he was holding in, when he became aware of the fact, that the bright thing was blonde hair. Lily's hair.  
Even though the pain in his foot was almost unbearable, he rushed over to her body. She laid on her side, on half of her face in the mud and she seemed unconscious. But Link teared up again, when he felt her pulse and sent silent prayers to god, that she was okay. The rushing water next to him looked still very dangerous and he knew, that they couldn't stay at this place. So he tried to lift Lily up, while he avoided putting his body weight on his left foot. It still hurt, when he began to move, but he was so happy, that he found his daughter, that he didn't care about his injury at all.

 

After a while of walking Link felt himself almost loosing his conscious over the pain in his foot. He would've loved to just sit down and relax for a while, but he knew, that he wasn't able to get back up again. The flashlight that he had secured on his shoulder to see anything in front of him was starting to flicker from time to time and he was sure, that it wouldn't last much longer. But when he had lost almost all hope to find a good place to stay for the night, he saw a huge wall of rock in front of him. He followed it for bit, until he found a little cave, which he immediately entered. It was lucky that this wasn't a cave, where any wild animals lived so he laid Lily on the floor, before he sat himself down. With his back propped against the wall of the cave, he rifled through the backpack to find something to keep Lily warm and was surprised to find a blanket at the bottom of it. He cleaned up her face and put the blanket around her, before he laid her against his chest. His breathing slowed down a bit and he felt really tired all of a sudden. Link brushed lightly through her wet hair and he leaned his head against the wall, when he closed his eyes. _“...I'm....so sorry....Lily....for everything...”_

 

A light touch on his hand woke Link up and he slowly opened his eyes. The first thing that he saw was a beam of sunlight shining right in his face, so he closed the eyes immediately. “Urgh....” He tried to move a bit, when a shadow fell over his face. Before his eyelids were completely opened, he could feel his glasses being placed carefully on his face. When his dizziness went slowly away, he saw the face of Lily coming into focus. His eyes teared up just like the night before and he whispered: “Lily....!” before she wrapped her hands around him for a hug. “I-I'm so sorry, Dad! I didn't mean what I said! I don't hate you, I-!” Her voice broke off and Link could hear her sobbing so he put his arms around her and pressed her against him. “It's okay, Princess! I'm just glad, that you're okay! I was so worried! Please never do that again!” “I promise!” She said with a bleating voice, while her tears ran down Link's neck.  
When she loosened the embrace, he tried to sit up a bit, while he wiped away his tears. His sight fell to his leg and he was quite surprised, when he saw that someone had took care of it. “Lily...did you do that?” He asked surprised and pointed at the strapping around his foot. She nodded and smiled at him. “Yes. You had a first-aid kit with you and I saw, that your foot didn't look good. So I tried to fix it a bit.” Link grinned at his daughter and brushed through her hair, while he said: “Thank you, Lily! You are the best nurse someone could wish for!” She giggled and said: “And I could contact the camp with your walkie-talkie and they said, they'll send the rangers here!” Link looked surprised, when he heard the news so he asked: “But...how will they find us?” “I looked around a bit and described the river and the rock wall and they kinda knew, where we are. And I also put the blanket from the first-aid kit on the rocks outside. So when the sun shines on the gold surface, they will definitely find us!” Link shook his head in disbelief and grinned happily. “You are wonderful, Lily! And I'm really proud of you!” When he looked up at her again, he could see a wide grin on her face and a sparkle in her eyes. “Thank you, Dad!”  
When they hugged again for a couple of minutes, Link could hear the walkie-talkie crackling again and he also heard voices from outside the little cave. “Lily, take the walkie-talkie and go outside to look for the rangers, okay?” She did exactly what Link had told her and he didn't have to wait for too long, until she returned with some rangers behind her. Link smiled relived, when they asked him about his condition, while they laid down a barrow next to him to bring him back to the camp. 

 

After a strange trip back through the forest, Link recognized the wooden house through the trees and was happy to be back at the camp finally. He saw that the ambulance was parked right next to the house, which he had kinda expected to be there. But what he didn't expect was his wife Christy, who ran from the stairs in front of the house up to him with a worried look on her face. “Oh my god, darling, are you okay!?” Link smiled a little and said: “Yes, I'm okay, honey. Please don't worry about me. It's just the foot...” “O-okay...!” She gave him a light kiss, while her eyes filled up with tears, before she knelt down to hug Lily, while Link was put into the ambulance. He saw that Christy was talking to an ambulance man and it seemed, that she wanted to know the hospital, where they would bring Link. But Link felt that he was still too tired to think about that too much, so he just closed his eyes and didn't care about the rest anymore. 

 

A few weeks later Link was sitting on the couch next to his children. His foot was still covered in a bandage and was laying on top of a stool. On his left side sat his two sons and on his right side sat Lily. They were all watching a movie, which was about to end, when Christy came into the room. “I have made some milkshakes for you!” She said and put a tablet on the coffee table in front of them, before she went back into the kitchen. The kids grabbed their glass immediately and Link tried to reach his glass, but failed. So Lily grabbed it for him and placed it in his hand with a smile. He smiled back and took a sip from it, before he looked back at the screen. The last scene was shown and as soon as the credits began, Lincoln said: “Okay, that was Lando's choice! Now that his movie is over, I want to watch-!”  
“Lincoln! You know, that there are three of you, right? So now it's Lily's turn to decide on a movie!” “But Dad! She always chooses some Barbie movies-!” “But she also watches your movies, so let her choose now!” Link said and looked over to Lily, while Lincoln folded his arms. “So Lily...what do you want to watch?” She took a sip out of her glass and smiled at Link, before she said: “Harry Potter!”


End file.
